Review of Top 9 PDF Converters

For storing and sharing documents, PDF is the best format by far. It keeps the document’s formatting unchanged no matter where and on what device you open it on. However much this may seems as an advantage, it can also make the users face some difficulties if he or she would like to edit the content of the PDF. Editing would only be possible if the PDF is first converted to an editable format such as Word or TXT. Since the Internet is not abound with full-featured, versatile PDF converters, we have tried to pick out the 9 best PDF converters for you to use, which we will present to you in more detail below.

PDFMate PDF Converter

PDFMate is a professional PDF conversion application that in terms of options is possibly the most complete converter out on the market. You can virtually take your PDF to pieces and do whatever you want with it. PDFMate is available for both Windows and Mac. Apart from converting your PDF file to Word, Html, Text, Epub, Image, PDFMate lets you merge PDF files, convert scanned PDFs to searchable files using its built-in OCR mechanism and do many more things. The simple and user-friendly interface lets you do all the above mentioned things in a matter of seconds and with only a few mouse clicks.

You can use PDFMate regardless whether you have a Mac computer or a PC with Windows installed. The program uses OCR technology which allows you to search even your scanned PDF documents. With its countless output format options and lots of ways to organize your pages PDFMate is a great choice in its category.

However, it is important to note that certain advanced functions are only available after subscribing to PDFMate Premium. If you still decide to stick with the paid version, you will be able to convert 3 files only.

Here are some steps to editing your documents with PDFMate:

Step1 Load your Documents

In the top window you may find the „Add PDF” option. Open any PDF document to edit them with PDFMate. Add one document or open multiple files at once as PDFMate supports both options:

1. Adding a single file

With PDFMate, you can choose whether you wish to add a single file or add multiple files to work on. Select the „Add PDF” button to start working on the document of your choice.

2. Adding multiple files

To select multiple files, click on “Add Folder”. This will open a window where you will be prompted to select the folder from your local directory. This way you can add several documents to PDF Mate directory for easier access.

3. How to pick a folder

You may select the folder of your choice after clicking on “Add Folder”. A search window will pop up. At this point feel free to take your time to navigate to the folder from where you wish to add files from. Mark your choice by ticking the square next to the desired folder.

Step2 Pick the output format

You may edit the output format of the document by navigating to “Output File Format”. There you will be offered several different output options including PDF, DOC, HTML, image and even EPUB.

Step3 Begin Conversion

Click on “Convert” to let your PDF conversion process begin. You can check how the process goes by taking a look at the “status bar”. Once conversion has been completed, the status will change to “success”.

Navigate to the destination folder easily with PDFMate. Clicking on “Open” will direct you to the place where they have been saved.

Note PDFMate “Merger Settings” offers some useful features. It allows you to shring your PDF documents to 1IN1, 2IN1 or as 4IN1. Press “Convert” to begin the process or merge files by choosing the “Open the merger” option.

SodaPDF

SodaPDF is advertised as the best PDF tool for getting a number of different PDF tasks done. And it truly is an excellent piece of software that lets you edit and convert your PDFs using its modern, simple and easy to use interface. SodaPDF is available in two different versions: one is a traditional Windows desktop version and other is an in-browser tool, which was developed with the aim of portability in mind. This possibility of choice makes SodaPDF the first software that runs as a desktop app and an online solution as well. This gives you the freedom to access SodaPDF from nearly any device including smartphones, laptops, desktops and tablets. Boost your productivity with SodaPDF by getting your editing and conversion tasks done easily, with the same tool. Try the handy reviewing, editing conversion and security possibilities SodaPDF offers. Add your electronic signature in a simple step to a document, when you are finished editing. The free version of the program gets the basic editing and converting done, but to get access to SodaPDFs extra features, you are going to have to join one of their pricing plans.

Thinking of converting your PDF to Word or any other filetype? Here is a quick guide for it:

Step1 Open the file you wish to convert

With Soda PDF you may edit one file at a time. The document will appear in the main window, upon opening. To convert your file to Word, just hit “Create and Convert” in the interface tab and conversion shall start at once.

Step2 Choose format

With Soda PDF you can easily make your choice when it comes to conversion. Let it be a Word document or another alternative, with this powerful tool, you shall not face any issues.

Step3 Choose Pages

When you do not want to convert the whole document, just a part of it, Soda PDF dialogue box will offer you options to pick which pages exactly you wish to export. Do not forget to include your destination folder. When you have finished finalizing the settings, simply press “Convert” to start the process.

Advantages:

Desktop and in-browser version available

Plenty of output formats available for conversion

Built-in OCR technology

Advanced safety and security

Disadvantages:

Free version only features the very basic options

Not compatible with ePub files

WPS PDF to Word Converter Free

As the name suggests, WPS is a converter that can only be used to turn PDF files into Word format. But if you do not need all those additional functions, WPS will get the job done for you super fast. Once you convert your PDF file to Word, you will need to do no post editing at all to make the Word document look like the original PDF, the entire original layout of the document will be preserved. The program does include one additional feature though, the built-in splitting and merging tool lets you work easier with voluminous documents.

Converting PDF files to Word with WPS PDF to Word Converter Free in two simple steps:

Step1 Open the app

Open WPS PDF to Word Converter. Add the PDF that you wish to convert with the help of the program. Scanned or image format is not supported though.

Step2 Convert

Hit “Convert” to start the conversion process. In case you wish to modify the basic conversion settings, go to the “Special Features” tab of WPS Writer and select “PDF to Word Converter”.

Advantages:

Formatting is retained throughout the conversion process

Splitting and merging function for large files

Easy to use interfacel

Disadvantages:

Free version limits conversion to 5 pages

It can only convert to Word

Nitro Free PDF to Word Converter

Despite the name, Nitro converter is not limited to only converting to Word format, in fact it supports all Microsoft Office related output formats (PowerPoint, Excel etc). If you are looking to get a more detailed overview of Nitro, its official website will not be of much help for you, you are going to have to try the software for yourself, but we can tell you beforehand that there is a very strict limit on the number of files you can convert per month: namely 5. And after your 14-day trial period is over, unfortunately you are going to have to purchase the software to keep on using it.

You may find useful information below, on using WPS PDF to Word Converter:

Step1 Open PDF

Launch WPS PDF to Word Converter and choose the “Open” option available at the “Home” window. Select the PDF you wish to convert to a Word document.

Step2 Select MS WOrd

Having opened your PDF, go to the “home” tab and choose the “To Word” option. This will button will bring up a “Convert to Word” window.

Step3 Finish conversion

Having given the required settings, select the export format of your document “Word(*.docx)”. To start conversion, you may click on “Convert”. A wizard will then guide you through the process of conversion and you shall be able to access your file in the new format in a short time.

Advantages:

Conversion is simple and fast

Good number of editing functions for enhancing your documents

Disadvantages:

Trial version very limited

Images are not always converted

Only Microsoft Office output formats are available

Icecream PDF Converter

You might be familiar with the brand Icecream Apps from using one of their other useful tools. They create free and easy to use software for image processing, screen recording and many other tasks. Their PDF converter is just as flexible as any of their other programs. It lets you convert from and to PDF from a number of different formats such as DOC, XLS, HTML, JPG, PNG etc. Apart from getting the basic conversion process done, it also lets you edit the layout of your document, split and merge files and choose from a variety of output settings.

Thinking of using Icecream PDF Converter? Here is a quick guide, how-to:

Step1 Select the way of conversion

Convert to PDF and vice versa with Icecream PDF Converter simply and effortlessly. Both ways are easily accessible from the main window of Icecream interface.

Step2 Pick a file to be converted

Add files by clicking on the plus sign or dragging them into Icecream PDF Converter. Select the output format and adjust other things like page range and perform editing tasks like splitting and more. With this easy-to-use and efficient tool, you may simply select the folder where you wish to save your new file and hit
“Convert”.

Step3 Define your settings

In the “Settings” menu you can set some basic preferences like language, folder location and also include the name of publisher. With Icecream you can set your preferences in a few easy steps and without taking very long. When you are ready, just click on “Convert” and wrap up the conversion process in no time.

Advantages:

Converts from and to PDF

Supports many output formats

Built-in PDF reader

Bulk conversion

Disadvantages:

Unlimited conversion is only available with the Pro version

No OCR recognition technology

DocuFreezer PDF converter

DocuFreezer is a great piece of software if it is important for you to have the page layout of your original document retained. DocuFreezer will ensure that all your images, graphs, bullet-points will appear in the same place even after conversion. DocuFreezer’s interface features a drag and drop method of selecting your files to be converted. Moreover, the batch conversion feature allows you to queue multiple files for automatic conversion. The software comes in either a free version for non-commercial use and a business version for commercial use. The latter is available for $19.

Please refer to the steps below to convert your PDF files to JPG with DocuFreezer:

Step1 Set up DocuFreezer

Download DocuFreezer from the official website. The installation wizard will guide you through the setup process in a few easy steps. When the installation is ready, run DocuFreezer.

Step2 Open PDF

To open any PDF file just simply drag the desired document or documents into DocuFreezer interface. No need to search for your files through DocuFreezer in your local directory, simply drop them into the program window.

Step3 Select JPEG

Conversion of a file will first require you to select the output file format. If you wish to convert a PDF to a JPEG file, choose “JPEG”. Do not forget to locate the destination folder so you will be able to find your new file in your computer’s local directory.

Step4 Start Conversion

Whenever you are ready with the settings just hit “Start” and the conversion process of your PDF file to a JPEG format shall begin shortly.

Advantages:

Supports bulk conversion

Many output formats supported

Easy to use drag and drop interface

Disadvantages:

Has less functions than other converters in a similar price range

No OCR technology

UniPDF

UniPDF is a simple tool and runs short on features that the above mentioned high-end converters have got to offer, but nevertheless, it carries out basic conversion tasks well. Its official website is just as simple as the software itself, there is not much information on the specific features of this program. UniPDF preserves images well, however it has some difficulties maintaining the original layout of text based content here and there. The output formats supported by UniPdf are the following: HTML, JPG, GIF, DOC, PNG, BMP, GIF, TXT, RTF, PCX.

Below you may find a tutorial on using UniPDF:

Step1 Download and open UniPDF

Download UniPDF. Having opened the program, just hit “Add” to open any PDF file. Adding also works by dragging the desired file into UniPDF window.

Step2 Add your files

Click on “Add” and choose whatever file you wish to convert. Click on “Open” once the file has appeared in the UniPDF software. Feel free to add more files at once and let UniPDF add them to its conversion tasks and convert them one by one.

Step3 Begin conversion

Click on “Convert” to start conversion. Note that conversion time may differ dependant on the number and file size of the files.

Step4 Change the settings anytime

Modify the file extension if needed, through the “Settings”. For example, if you need your PDF to be saved in Word format, select “.doc” and save your changes.

Advantages:

Simple to use, no need for guidelines

Batch conversion through the simple drag and drop interface

Many output formats supported

Disadvantages:

Limited functions

No editing features

Does not handle the conversion of text based content well

Free File Convert

Free File Convert is an online converter that lets users convert their files to audio, image, archive and many other document formats, among which is PDF. The fact that it is an online converter does mean that it is faster as you do not have to download any additional software, however, do bear in mind that you are submitting your document to a third-party software for use. Now, this site may be good for converting a file every now and then, but if you are looking to convert in bulk, using this is going to significantly slow down the process.

In order to use this tool, you can see the steps below.

Step1 Visit the website

Firstly, you need to visit the official website of this tool to get prepared to convert your document. There you can directly access the interface of the program.

Step2 Load input file and set output format

Once you are directly in front of the interface, you can begin the process by pressing the “Choose location” button where you can navigate to and load your PDF that you want to be converted. Then you can choose your desired output format in the second box.

Step3 Convert your file

Once you have your file loaded and the output configuration set, simply press the Convert button so your file will be automatically converted on the website and you can download your converted content directly.

Advantages:

Virtually any file format is supported

No downloading of additional software is required

Disadvantages:

Only available online

Batch converting is slow

Internet connection is required

No editing options

Free Online OCR

Free Online OCR, as the name suggests, is a free online conversion tool that has been specially designed to handle scanned documents and turn them into editable and searchable file formats. This is the main strength of Free Online OCR. Moreover, low resolution images and documents can also be converted, as the program does a good job at reconstructing the not so clear data. The formatting of the text is generally well handled and preserves most of the layout of the original document even after conversion. Some post tweaking might be necessary though to have everything in the right place.

In case you are eager to try out using this tool, check the elaborated guide here.

Step1 Visit the page of the tool

First and foremost, as this tool can be accessed online, you just need to visit the official page to have it ready directly.

Step2 Choose your file and output

Once you are on the website, you can load into the interface the PDF file that you wish to be converted, such as a scanned PDF document or other sort of PDF. Then just easily choose the desired output format from the dropdown menu from the second box, that will be the most compatible with your future activity that you plan doing on your file.

Step3 Do the converting

Once everything is set, you can just press the Convert button so that the whole conversion will take place and you will receive your converted file in your chosen output format within no time.

Advantages:

Online tool, no software needs to be downloaded

Deals well with low resolution images

Preserves most of the formatting

Service completely free

Disadvantages:

Bulk conversion not supported

Some formatting may be lost

Conclusion

In today’s world, where text based content is becoming more and more digitized, people need to ensure that information is easily shareable and compact. PDFs are a great way of storing information that can be accessed from any platform, but sometimes we need to edit the information. For this purpose, we can use any of the great PDF converters mentioned above, but an ultimate converter that has everything you need from smart editing features to top-notch PDF managing functions, packed in a single software, is AceThinker’s PDF writer, which you can learn more about on AceThinker’s official website.